Welcome to the veg files.

As a longtime vegetarian I started this blog as a place to share tips, recipes and general knowhow on maintaining a healthy vegetarian lifestyle. When I first became a vegetarian I was pretty lost and confused about just how to make sure I and my family got the right amount of nutrition, so I hope that this blog will help anyone out there who is feeling the same way. Of course, I hope this blog is useful to the old hands out there too!

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I know I will enjoy writing it.

For money saving tips, articles and even more recipes check out my posts on Hubpages. For online money making opportunities go here. To check out my photography go here.

Sunday, 28 November 2010

Is it that time of year already?

Today my youngest daughter asked me for help, not a thing that has happened all that much these past couple of years. She's seventeen, so of course, she knows everything about everything.I can't remember where the quote comes from but I remember someone saying that they only employed teenagers as they wanted to catch people whilst they still knew everything. But today she did ask me for help. She has lots of friends and this year she want's to be a bit more independant and buy Christmas presents for them out of her own money. Which is wonderful but the trouble is she doesn't have any money. So she asked me what to do.

I won't decribe the look she gave me when I suggested homemade gifts but a baby sucking lemons comes to mind. But after a quick session cooking honeycomb and wrapping the little golden treats in some fancy celophane and tying them up with gold ribbons she was won over. Later I am going to show her how to make some chocolate truffles, I will share that recipe later in the week.

Take a shallow baking tray and line it with oiled tin foil.Put the sugar, 1/2 pint of cold water,cream of tartar, vinegar and the golden syrup into a heavey based saucepan.Cook over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Swirl the pan from time to time but do not stir. Bring to the boil for ten minutes until the mixture reaches 150c on a sugar thermometer if you have one. If you don't then take a very small amount of the mixture and drop in into a a saucer of very cold water. It will go hard and brittle when it is ready. As soon as it reaches the right temperature remove the pan from the heat and cool it by putting the pan into a sink half filled with cold water. Quickly stir in the bicarbonate of soda, and a dessertspoonful of cold water. Swirl the pan as the mixture foams up but be very careful it is hot! Let it bubble away for about a minute then pour it into the foiled baking tray. Leave it to cool until it has set and then turn it out onto a clean surface and break into chunks.

This will only keep for a few days so if you want to give it as a pressie then make it just before Christmas. It taste wonderful and looks great too, I will post some pictures when my camera is fixed, or better yet replaced. Are you listening Santa?

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About Me

I am a mother of three longtime vegetarian children. My eldest daughter was the first to convert followed by my son and youngest daughter. I resisted giving up meat eating for quite a while until, one day, I looked at the food I was giving them and decided it looked a lot tastier and healthier than the meal I had prepared for myself and my husband. After that day there was no going back.
I feel healthier and have more energy now and even though one of the kids has since moved out she still returns often for a meal and a box of leftovers, so I must be doing something right.
Unfortunately,My husband would eat roadkill if I poured gravy on it and so I still have to cook meat for him. We all live in hope of converting him one day, but are not holding our breath!